01/14/2024 – 18:00
Rodrigo Kede, from Rio, is deeply knowledgeable and enthusiastic about digital transformation. He held positions in important global companies, in the United States, Asia and Latin America. He was president of IBM Brasil, worked at Totvs and went to Microsoft three and a half years ago as vice president of corporate, a position that includes command of the company's Latin countries. In mid-2023, he received the mission of also managing Canada and part of the American territory.
He is the first Brazilian to assume a global position in the companyreporting directly to the CEO, Satya Nadella. Kede likes to surf, but he put that passion aside to live in New York and ride the waves of algorithms.
Graduated in mechanical and production engineering from PUC in Rio de Janeiro, with an MBA in finance and capital markets from Insper, he also graduated from Harvard Business School.
Kede spoke in this interview about his vision of technology, the challenge of training labor for the sector, the benefits of artificial intelligence and the importance of its regulation.
MONEY — How has it been the challenge of running Microsoft in Canada and part of the United States, in addition to Latin America?
RODRIGO KEDE — It's really a challenge. From Toronto to Santiago there is a long way. But it's fun too. Sometimes we think there is a big difference between the United States, Brazil and other Latin American countries. These differences exist, of course, but we found a lot of similarities. Basically, the Americas speak three languages: Portuguese, Spanish and English. The biggest issue is geographic distance.
Are there more convergences than differences?
The world is very polarized nowadays. I come from a time when you had a friend who was a fan of a different football team than you and you didn't fight, you made fun of him. Another friend had a political party and didn't fight. It's currently difficult. I am a person of consensus, of 2 + 2 which does not equal 4, which equals 6. You have to think about the essence. At the end of the day, party A or party B is not important. What is important is the country, it is the population. There are many things in common and Microsoft is a company with an exceptional culture.
What stands out about this culture?
The book Hit Refresh, by Satya Nadella, tells the story of his and Microsoft's personal transformation. He talks about this culture, which is always about simplifying. There was a culture of know it all, that the executive had to know everything. Nobody knows everything. So we have a culture of learn it all. The important thing is that you are always learning. Satya talks a lot about the book Mindset, by Carol Dweck, which teaches you to stop trying to be perfect, not to compare yourself with others and to be better tomorrow than today. Go to maximum potential. Work as a team.
“ShovelTo train IT professionals, the most important thing is to break the barrier that technology is a complicated thing. Companies are starting to see this''
Was this culture what allowed a Brazilian to reach the position you are in today?
Perhaps a great example is my case, because it doesn't matter where you come from, your hair, the color of your skin or your language. Are you a person who has the ability to do this? Then you're the best person to do the job.
And how do you feel? Is it an example for the kids who are coming, studying IT and working in the complex and competitive market?
I spend a lot of time on this, because I think one of my functions is to develop people, to influence positively, to be able to help inspire. Because I know people who are super capable saying that they will never get an A or B position. We talk about diversity, inclusion, and we talk in a genuine way and not just generously. At Microsoft, it's about values, not the zip code you were born with.
The gap in specialized IT labor is growing. How do you observe this?
If you look at what has happened with technology in the last 20 years and what we believe will happen in the next 20, the demand for technology, knowledge, technology skills, will continue to grow. Two or three years ago, technology represented 5% of GDP [global]. In 2030 it will reach 10%. Technology will become the largest component of GDP in the world. So we have a heavy demand for some specific skills, mainly innovation.
What needs to be done?
There is a lack of resources [humanos] Yes, but technology is reaching a point where it will supply part of this itself. The key to solving the problem is opening your mind to the concept of reskilling [reciclagem profissional]. I know several cases of people who knew nothing about technology and who in two or three years became experts in cybersecurity. The most important thing is to break the barrier that technology is a complicated thing. Companies are starting to see this.
AI is being treated as a solution for everything. Will she continue with this load?
We've been talking about AI for a long time. He became a chair at an American university in the late 1950s. In the film 2001 — A Space Odyssey [de Stanley Kubrick], from 1968, before man set foot on the Moon (in 1969), the voice computer interacts and takes control of the ship. A lot of things you see back in 1968 are happening today. He is visionary. And there have been several events over the past few decades that have brought artificial intelligence into the headlines. Like in 1997, when the Deep Blue computer beat chess champion Kasparov.
A sequence of waves?
There was a gradual evolution. At some point we started talking about machine learning, then deep learning and recently generative AI. There have been huge waves of change in technology. Programming, PC, Internet era, Mobile era, cloud and now AI. All these waves of technology were necessary for us to get to where we are. To have AI you need tools, processing power and the ocean of data that we have today and didn't have 20 years ago. And I believe this is the most disruptive wave we will have in my life time.
If you compare all the big techs, they are not the same. Every time companies or industries start to have a lot of power, regulation comes. That's what government exists for, to ensure things don't get out of control. If you look at history, there has been intervention in the telecommunications sector, in railways… I believe that regulation discussed in the right way is important and it has to happen. The market for AI will not saturate. All technology has its cycle. AI is at the beginning of a cycle, I have no idea how big it is, but I know it is not restricted to the number of users, like most of these other newer technologies. It's difficult to even measure the size of the market opportunity, for society's
progress, but it will be huge.
Is it possible through this technology to solve problems of hunger, environmental and climate issues?
Everywhere you have a process, artificial intelligence can help make it more accurate and have less inefficiency. We have the PrevisIA project [com o Fundo Vale]in which Imazon [Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia] uses AI to anticipate deforestation risks and prevent future losses to the forest. I don't know of any process problem in the world that cannot be improved with the use of artificial intelligence.
And how do you see Brazil in this context?
I would love to see Brazil embrace AI in the same way that India embraced the technology. Brazil should be the cradle of the world for carbon credits, a reference in climate, sustainability, energy matrix… With the biodiversity we have, we should lead all of this. And AI will be fundamental and an opportunity for several countries and companies to make a leap in progress, productivity, growth.
And at what point can AI generate negative results?
All technology has two sides. GPS was a military technology. It was so important that it was opened to the public. There are good people and there are people who are not good, who use GPS to do bad things. The fundamental thing is to have control and regulation tools to limit and ensure that the benefit is immensely greater than any risk..
The debate about regulation is in Asia, Europe, the United States… Is there a point you defend?
It's a complex subject, because not everyone is at the same stage. Governments are in one, Microsoft in another, there are companies at different levels and each one has its objectives, depending on the business profile. It's not easy. The important thing is for companies to join governments, with other sectors, to have a serious discussion. Because everyone, in the end, wants a better world. The only thread of intersection that I see at this moment is the consensus of everyone working together to make it work.
Among the new technologies, we had the metaverse, which boomed at first and then lost steam. What happened?
I see some personal restrictions in the metaverse in the way everyone was talking about, having a bank branch, buying a house… I have some difficulty, as I prefer to have a meeting in person or via video platform than to be in a virtual room with my little arms acting. and we're talking. It may take a while for us to see this technology being applied to everything. It has a maturation time.
“It is essential to have control and regulation tools to limit and ensure that the benefit [da IA] be greater than any risk''
How do you use technology in your everyday life?
I'm a fan of everything that plugs into an outlet. If someone rings the doorbell at my house, it rings my cell phone too. I open the camera and manage to open the door. Lying down, I close the bedroom curtain. They are comforts. Important? No! Fun? Yes! And I use the copilot [recurso de IA da Microsoft integrado aos principais aplicativos de produtividade]. I went on vacation in August and after two weeks I got on the computer. I asked about the emails sent by my bosses and whether there was anything important in them. I received a detailed response without opening the emails and I knew everything that was sent to me. Another example, I took 300 pages of my American Income Tax and asked to create just five pages, with comments. The tool not only summarizes, but understands the reports and boxes with numbers. I asked to create a PowerPoint. This is revolutionary in terms of productivity.
Where will Microsoft be in 10 years?
Technology can, indeed, make a better world. It's a brilliant way of defining our role. We lead much of this agenda to set standards and for others to follow. I want to look back a decade from now and see Microsoft as a company that worked to make this planet fairer and people healthier.
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